Monday, October 30. 2006

Let me first nip the inevitable protest in the bud - I love Soarin' (although Jay has his own things to say about it). I think it's one of the best recent additions to EPCOT. It fits in perfectly with the Land pavilion. It's firmly in the Disney tradition of innovative, immersive cinema technology. And perhaps most importantly, I have ridden it three times and each time applause has broken out in the audience.

What needs fixing is not the ride itself (although I certainly hope that the movie will be updated from time to time, perhaps including locations outside of California). No, the problem is the lengthy wait and all the consequences of that wait. Last Saturday the non-fastpass queue was 75 minutes long. At times it seemed forward progress was only achieved by outlasting those families ahead of us that gave up and walked back through the crowd. All around us guests were venting their frustrations. And worst of all, every sheet metal surface in arm's reach was covered in scratched graffiti!

Thursday, June 8. 2006

Guests of Disney World have many opportunities to observe the Disney corporation's interest in the environment. Self-serving though it may be (and there's nothing wrong with that), this interest has resulted in many real advances, from the acres of resort-property land set aside as a nature preserve to the solar cells on the roof of the Universe of Energy. Their eco-commitment is especially apparent at Epcot and Animal Kingdom, both of which make efforts to educate the public about environmental issues. With that in mind, isn't it a bit jarring to get on your very first ride of the day, the tram that fetches you from the parking lot, and find a diesel powered tractor rumbling and belching black smoke from twin side-pipes like something out of The Road Warrior?

As you might expect, FixDisneyWorld.com has a solution, and one that is, for once, simple and cheap to implement - a no-brainer, really. Run the trams on Biodiesel, a fuel that can be made out of waste vegetable oil. The process is not at all expensive or complicated - you can do it at home easily enough, if you happen to have a deep fryer or if you strike a deal with your local McDonalds. With all the french fries and chicken fingers served in the parks, Disney World must run through tanker trucks of the stuff. They may even pay for disposal of this oil, and they're definitely paying for diesel fuel to use in the trams.

Aside from the obvious economic advantages, the greatest benefit of all may be found in public relations. Paint the trams green or something and make an announcement on the P.A. speakers about Disney's commitment to the environment and to pioneering new technology. Put a little display about the biodiesel trams in Animal Kingdom, or in Innoventions, or in Living with the Land, or in a hundred other places.

Finally, bio-diesel trams fit nicely with one of my favorite aspects of Disney World: real working technology used as an example. There is a certain type of critic that likes to blast Disney as being an entirely fake or simulated experience. Although I don't have much patience for that argument, I have to point out it is not at all true of, for instance, the aforementioned Universe of Energy solar panels. Or the vegetables and fish grown in the Land pavilion greenhouses and served in Epcot restaurants. Or the Disney-developed monorail (of which more anon).

This is one more way (and a really cheap way, at that) to present the company and the parks as being on the forefront of progress, a goal Walt Disney would wholeheartedly endorse.